Celebrating Christmas

In the month of December my children learn all about the color green! We painted a Christmas tree using a piece of broccoli (for Vegetable Day at school) and green paint. 

They also made holly berries using green construction paper. The green paper that was torn into pieces by the children (encourages fine motor skills), glued onto paper and berries were added using a pom pom and red paint.

 Another fun project surrounding the color green was our wreath craft. Their tiny hands were painted green and stamped onto paper to create the wreath. After the wreathes dried the children drizzled glue all over the wreath and sprinkled gold glitter on top, added berries using red circles, and glued on the poem. 

Finally, the children made a tree using green strips of paper. Using a template the children built the tree going from the largest piece of paper to make the bottom of the tree all the way up to the smallest piece of paper on the top. This craft focuses on using their observational skills as the children were asked to differentiate between sizes.  Of course, no Christmas tree would be complete without a shinny star on top and some glitter!

For the shape of the month the children learned about a Star! Using star shaped cookie cutters and green paint they stamped stars onto paper and then sprinkled green glitter on top. 

 The children also made a Santa ornament using a red star. What fun they had gluing on his soft white beard and the fun details of his hat.

 Another Day we made Jesus in the manger. The children used Popsicle sticks to make the manger, hay for his bed and once baby Jesus was put into his bed  the children glued stars over his manger. Such a beautiful way to bring everything together during this special time of year. 

I also introduced sequencing to the children this month. Recognizing and understanding patterns/sequencing is an important pre-math skill and one that we will be focusing on here in our classroom in the upcoming months. The children threaded beads onto a green pipe cleaner to make a candy cane. A sample candy cane was used as a visual as I encouraged  them to make the AB pattern using red and white beads. The children also made elf stockings using the same AB pattern to create the stockings and what a great job they did with this craft! 

Here are some other fun things we did this month! We made reindeer, using their hands for the antlers and a bright shinny nose using red glitter, which were displayed on our bulletin board for all our friends to see. 

They also made stockings- using a variety of fun Christmas card stock paper and their own glue stick!

 For a special Christmas present our little ones made beautiful angels. Their hands and feet were painted to make the body and wings and of course each little angel was completed with a silver halo! A cherished keepsake to hang on your Christmas tree for many years to come!

Here are some other things my children other children in the preschool have made over the past few years. 

Thanksgiving

Gobble Gobble! This month we learned about turkeys! The children began the month by decorating a piece of feather shaped construction paper with fall colored feathers which was used to create our thankful turkey (displayed on our classroom bulletin board). We had more fun with turkeys as the children sponge painted half a plate using orange, yellow and brown paint and then added a turkey to the middle. We also made very special keepsake turkey place mats last week which we used during our Thanksgiving feast! 

In addition to Thanksgiving we finished up our fall unit this month. The children enjoyed a fall themed sensory bin filled with plastic and felt leaves, pine cones, hay and pumpkins, they also made scarecrows which hung in the hallway, made vibrant colored leaves using water colors and an eye dropper, a collage using real leaves, an Indian and Pilgrim, and the Mayflower using their handprint!  

For the shape of the month we learned all about squares! The children made Indian corn using small multi-colored squares which we hung in the classroom and hallway for the month of November. They also stamped with a square shaped wooden block that was wrapped in yarn for some fun texture and a orange stamp pad.